Lincoln Park/Cotter Community Advisory Group moves forward as new group meets

By RACHEL ALEXANDER alexanderr@ canoncitydailyrecord.com

Posted:
02/28/2013 10:00:24 PM MST

New Community Advisory Group members sit in their first organizational meeting Thursday at City Hall. (Jeff Shane/Daily Record)

The first meeting of a reconstituted Lincoln Park/Cotter Community Advisory Group was conducted Thursday at City Hall.

"There'll be no terminal decisions of any kind made tonight," said facilitator Joe McMahon. "But we want to get going and moving."

A steering committee has been working since September to reform a CAG for the project. The committee recommended 15 people to be permanent members of the CAG, who were approved by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The new CAG consists of Jeri Fry, a Canon City merchant and Colorado Citizens Against ToxicWaste member; John Sporleder, who is retired from education; Robert Tracey, a retired resident; Richard Heitman, who is retired from law enforcement; Mike Stiehl, retired county commissioner and biologist; Marvin D. Eller, who is retired from law enforcement; Kay Hawklee, who is in counseling; Jackie Mewes, who is in environmental compliance; Catherine Meyrick, CCAT member; Tim Payne, County Commissioner; James Meacham, a geologist; Bill Matthews, who is retired from environmental cleanup; Sharyn Cunningham, a psychotherapist and CCAT co-chair; Pat Freda, City Councilman; Carol Dunn, a local merchant and CCAT co-chair.

"Really happy to see a CAG again at Cotter," Martin Hestmark, of EPA said. "Our experience with Community Advisory Groups has always been positive. The information we get is always useful."

McMahon was hired by EPA to work as the CAG facilitator. He will remain until the CAG decides they no longer need him.

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During Thursday's meeting, the CAG heard a presentation on what a CAG is, how the agencies expect it to function and why it is important.

"There will be public meetings, there will be the CAG," said Warren Smith, of CDPHE. "They both have their place. (CAG) provides core group of people who can help serve as an information clearing house"

There was some discussion of what the CAG is and is not.

"CAG is an advisory body, the agencies are deciding bodies," Smith said.

"I see the CAG as a working group," said Stiehl.

Cotter announced in December 2011 that it would not be seeking to renew its radioactive materials license, an action that triggered the final decommissioning process on the site.

Decommissioning and closure operations have been in a "pause" for several months pending the redevelopment of the CAG and the finalization of a "road map" from the agencies.

"Whatever your background is, wherever you come from ... when you sit around this table you represent the entire community," McMahon said to the CAG.

"What I'm hearing is that this group is ready to get to work," Fry said.